Global warming affects human health positively

A new and extremely contradictory statement regarding global warming has been recently made. Three groups of global warming researchers now claim that global warming is not that harmful for human health and for the environment, as it was thought. Quite the contrary, global warming is likely to have a positive effect on human health.

In the new “Climate Change Reconsidered: 2011 Interim Report” it’s stated that greenhouse gases do not influence climate change at such a rate as previous reports asserted.

However, the conclusions of the study contradict the findings of the widely cited reports of the IPCC and many climate research organizations.

The report says that “global warming is more likely to improve rather than harm human health because rising temperatures lead to a greater reduction in winter deaths than the increase they cause in summer deaths.”

The reports also states that the Medieval Warm Period of approximately 1,000 years ago was both “global and warmer than today’s world.”

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That’s one more proof that scientists are usually in twenty minds. There’s nothing wrong about changing your point of view, it’s even cool to be able to change your position and accept another one. However, it should also remind us that there’s no point in believing every word scientists say, and it’s a good idea to accept the possibility of other things being probable. That also makes me think of year 2012, “the END of the World” lol

Making the environment cleaner can be fun

The Fun Theory–The deepest rubbish bin

 

A world wide known car company Volkswagen created a great way of stimulating people to change their behavior or habits for the better, and they call it The Fun Theory. Any person can make up a fun theory and a group of specialists will bring this idea to life. In the video placed above you can see a great example of how throwing litter in a rubbish bin can be fun, and make people smile. You can see a guy who threw away his own litter, then picked up some other nearby the bin and also threw it away. Would he do that if not for this cool “falling into depth” sound? I don’t think so. So the point is – people like fun stuff and it doesn’t matter whether it’s about throwing litter into a bin or walking up “piano” stairs.

I’m really happy there are people who invent such fun and attractive things, and it somehow changes people’s behavior for the better.

We are sick of ecology!

You certainly know why people leave their cities for some health centers settled in places with clean environment, pure water, and healthy air. It’s no wonder that living in cities and megalopolises we expose our health to various diseases caused by bad ecology. We are more likely to catch some illness then people living somewhere in the country, away from plants and streams of cars.

One of the health problems is intolerant reactions to foods and drinks. Doctors are still not sure whether these reactions can be called allergies, but the symptoms are very much alike. They call it ecological illness that caused by chemical or food sensitivity.

Doctors are not sure about the causes of the Ecological illness either. A few ecologically sick people were interviewed and they suppose the causes might be: fast foods, artificially-preserved foods, pre-packed and frozen foods; various drugs and medication taken daily and of course pollution of the environment with such harmful chemicals as fertilizers, hydrocarbons and insecticides.

Ecologically friendly products

In our everyday life we rarely think about the damage we make to the Earth and environment. We also don’t pay much attention to the products we choose although there is a great range of them. There are ecological products, which are now becoming popular among those people who prefer greener living. When choosing ecological products we preserve our planet from water pollution, air pollution, toxic chemical substances. There are some common categories of green ecological products:

1) Environmentally friendly – not damaging the nature and minimizing the harm to it.

2) Organic certified – produced without the use of harmful fertilizes.

3) Recycled – new things made of the old ones by processing those. Materials that can be recycled are glass, paper, cans, plastic bags etc.

4) Sustainable Forestry – in this case the care of the forest ecosystems including rivers, lakes, wildlife habitats is taken.

There is a great variety of green ecological products but they all imply the reduction of the damage made to the environment. You can either buy recycled products or provide your individual recycling service with composers. Considering the importance of reducing methane gas production certain companies manage to harness the methane output and manufacture ecological products.

Youngsters collected €1300 for the nature

The length of the marathon organized for members of Klabb Hutaff by BirdLife Malta can only strike. 12 kilometer marathon was full of students, their teachers and parents. The reason of the marathon is to give everybody who’s under 18 a chance to do their part for environment and greener life.

‘That’s also a part of education’ claims the BirdLife’s partner. Walking through Rabat and up to is-Simar Narute Reserve in Xemxija brought €1300 which would be transferred toward optical equipment for is-Simar Nature Reserve.

Children spoke on about the environment and expressed their ideas. All of them are obsessed with the idea of helping Mother Nature and of course children will continue their campaigning.

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Live Earth concert against climate change

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

Live Earth will reach this worldwide audience through an unprecedented global media architecture covering all media platforms - TV, radio, Internet and wireless channels.

Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.

Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, the Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, an event that brought together one of the largest audiences in history to combat poverty. Wall formed a partnership with Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection to ensure that Live Earth inspires behavioral changes long after 7/7/07.

Live Earth will stage official concerts at Giants Stadium in New York; Wembley Stadium in London; Aussie Stadium in Sydney; Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg; Makuhari Messe in Tokyo; the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai; and HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg.

Live Earth concerts will be broadcast to a live worldwide audience by MSN at www.LiveEarth.MSN.com.

Live Earth is a project of the SOS campaign , which is using a powerful multimedia platform - films, television, radio, Internet, books, wireless and others - to move people to combat the climate crisis.

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Recycling - find out a new way of living.

What is recycling and what do we need it for? In fact, recycling is the processing of old items and materials into new products. I think, we all have loads of stuff in our houses and apartments. Usually we don't pay much attention to it. Tonnes of trash like plastic, aluminum cans, textiles, aerosol cans are thrown away every day. We manage to get rid of that, but how about the earth? Rubbish stays there for years. Meanwhile, all that stuff can be recycled and reused.

Paper recycling began in Britain in 1921, when the British Waste Paper Association (now Confederation of Paper Industries) was established to encourage trade in waste paper recycling.

Then, during the World war II there was a lack of resources. Massive government promotion campaigns were carried out in nearly every country involved in the war. Citizens were assured to donate metals and conserve fiber, as a matter of significant patriotic importance.

In USA in 1989 the use of polystyrene packaging for keeping McDonald's hamburgers warm was banned. That led to some efforts from the side of Dow Chemical to show that plastics can be recycled. By 1999, there were 1,677 companies in the USA involved in the post-consumer plastics recycling business.

Such materials as glass, plastic, newspapers, aluminum, used motor oil, batteries, textiles, timber can be recycled. No doubt that benefit of it does exist. There are some hazardous materials which are better be left at home until you can get rid of them safely. Recycled material is purer; less energy is needed to process it. For example, Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy cost of processing new aluminum because the melting temperature is reduced from 900 °C to 600 °C.

By recycling we conserve more resources for the future, save energy, decrease pollution of the environment!

Everyone is able to do just some of these little steps in order to reduce the creation of garbage. Here are some tips:

• Choose products with the least amount of packaging. Avoid juice boxes, plastic outer packs, individually wrapped cheese slices, etc.--anything you throw away even before using the product!
• Choose packaging that can be recycled in your community.
• Select no hazardous cleaning and household products. Clean ovens and toilets with baking soda. Use salt and boiling water, a plunger or "snake" for clogged drains. Clean windows with a vinegar and water solution.
• Buy canvas or string shopping bags you can use again and again.
• Say "I don't need a bag" for small purchases.
• Buy razors and other products with a long life instead of one-use disposables.
• Store leftovers and pack sandwiches in reusable containers, not foil or plastic wrap.
• Use sponges and washable rags instead of paper towels.
• Use cloth instead of paper napkins.
• Use china or plastic dishes instead of paper plates.
  

You may already know, that buying recycled items is cheaper. By that you are not only saving your money, but also preserving natural resources and reduce toxicity of waste (since you select less hazardous alternatives for certain items).

Furthermore, recycling is a good business. When a factory manufactures its products with less packaging, it's buying less raw material. Also development of mechanical and chemical systems for recycling can be a good business with a good income.

Also you can reuse useless items that are simply not used at home. And everybody can find little things for the reuse. For example, when we go to the store we can snatch some plastic bags and bring them back to it.

Some tips on how to reuse:

• Buy a battery charger and recharge and reuse batteries.
• Bring paper and plastic shopping bags back to the store and use them again; some stores will even pay you for them.
• Use paper and plastic shopping bags, rather than purchased bags, to hold your trash.
• Pass magazines and books on to friends or to hospitals, senior centers, and others who would enjoy them.
• Give old clothing, household goods, and furniture to charitable organizations. Or hold a garage sale. Other people will pay you for things you no longer want.
• Create a market for what you recycle by buying products made of recycled materials. Cereal and other boxes that are gray inside are made of recycled materials. More and more products are labeled to identify recycled packaging.

So you can do "3 saves": 1. save nature resources 2. save your money and 3. save our environment.

See also:

A useful article about recycling, reusing and reducing.

Benefits of recycling. You can read some interesting facts about recycling.

Reduce, recycle and reuse. Learn more.

What's wrong with the Earth ?

Some of the global environmental problems you should know.

Global environmental problems are much spoken nowadays. The ecology of the Earth is becoming worse and worse each year. Scientist are making predictions about the future of the Earth that are closely linked with such global problems as global warming, greenhouse effect and gases, ice melting. I want to inform you and to give you an idea of them.

So, here we go:

Greenhouse effect is the process in which the emission of infrared radiation by an atmosphere warms a planet's surface.The main problem is a raise of carbonic dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. In a common usage, "greenhouse effect" may refer either to the natural greenhouse effect due to naturally occurring greenhouse gases, or to the enhanced (anthropogenic) greenhouse effect which results from gases emitted as a result of human activities.On Earth, the major natural greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36-70% of the greenhouse effect (not including clouds); carbon dioxide, which causes 9-26%; methane, which causes 4-9%, and ozone, which causes 3-7%.

The increased CO₂ in the atmosphere warms the Earth's surface and leads to melting of ice near the poles. As the ice melts, land or open water takes its place. Both land and open water are on average less reflective than ice, and thus absorb more solar radiation. This causes more warming, which in turn causes more melting, and this cycle continues.

Look the process of the Greenhouse effect

The green house gases are components of the atmosphere that contribute to the Greenhouse effect. Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Certain human activities add to the levels of most of these naturally occurring gases.

The Antarctic ozone hole is an area of the Antarctic stratosphere in which the recent ozone levels have dropped to as low as 33% of their pre-1975 values. The overall cause of ozone depletion is the presence of chlorine-containing source gases.

In the presence of UV light, these gases dissociate, releasing chlorine atoms, which then go on to catalyze ozone destruction. The Cl-catalyzed ozone depletion can take place in the gas phase, but it is dramatically enhanced in the presence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs).

The role of sunlight in ozone depletion is the reason why the Antarctic ozone depletion is greatest during spring. During winter, even though polar stratospheric clouds are at their most abundant, there is no light over the pole to drive the chemical reactions. During the spring, however, the sun comes out, providing energy to drive photochemical reactions, and melt the polar stratospheric clouds, releasing the trapped compounds.

The Antarctic ozone hole

Where is a Blue Eye of Siberia?

Lake Baikal, which is also known as Blue Eye of Siberia, lies in Southern Siberia in Russia. It is the 2^nd largest lake on the earth by volume. It contains over one fifth of the world's liquid fresh surface water and more than 90% of Russia's liquid fresh surface water. Olkhon, by far the largest island in Lake Baikal, is the second largest lake-bound island in the world.

Lake Baikal is the deepest and oldest lake in the world. Its max depth is 1741, but in some places it's even deeper. Lake Baikal is not only the deepest, but also the biggest one between all freshwater lakes of the world. Its area is 30 500 km ² and the volume of water mass is 23 000 km ³ .

The lake is the huge water reserve of freshwater, inexhaustible resource of water-power. Scientists have found out that there's oil and gas in the Lake Baikal. Oil was noticed in some cracks of ancient crystalline rocks. However the source of these mineral resources is a big riddle for scientists.

The nature of the Lake Baikal is picturesque and gorgeous.The lake is surrounded by forests and big mountains. More than that it's opened for tourists that come to the Lake Baikal to relax and get stronger, during all seasons. From ancient times water of the lake Baikal has been considered as curative and healthy.

Lake Baikal is rich with wildlife and flora. There are more that 2600 kinds of animals and plants. Forests are full with different species of fur bearing animals (minks, squirrels, red foxes, muskrats and others).

The ecology of the lake is under a risk. The greatest threat of pollution is Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM). It was constructed in 1966 directly on the shore line. The BPPM bleaches its paper with chlorine and discharges the waste into Baikal. Despite numerous protests, the BPPM is still in production. Environmental activists are now in a struggle to make the pollution less harmful rather than end BPPM's production, since a plant shutdown would be problematic due to local socioeconomic issues. Also harmful chemical substances that are used in agriculture get into the lake and pollute its value and damage its inhabitants.

Lake Baikal on the map

See also:

About the Lake Baikal, its ecology, wildlife.

Ecology of my town

My native town Novotroitsk is industrial. A big metal work plant the "Ural Steel" gives work to a half of the population, produces steel things (i.e. for bridges, ships) but a lack of good modern cleaning equipment leads to the damage of our beautiful nature and the environment. So look at my town and its nature.

A view in the town:

















The factory is smoking:





























How looks our town:

















What is really being polluted:

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions between the organisms and their environment. The environment of an organism includes both physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, as well as the other organisms that share its habitat. The term oekologie was coined in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel the word is derived from the Greek οικος (oikos, "household") and λόγος (logos, "study"); therefore "ecology" means the "study of the household [of nature]". The word "ecology" is often used in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. Likewise "ecologic" or "ecological" is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.

Well, the ecology of our planet is undoubtedly getting worse and worse.

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